MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine men's basketball team had another successful night at home shooting from long distance, and the result was a 94-80 victory over Vanguard on Tuesday evening.
The Waves (3-1) went 13-for-26 on three-pointers, their third straight home game making at least 13 threes.
Due to rules differences between NCAA Division I and the NAIA, this was an official game for Pepperdine, and an exhibition for Vanguard.
BIG WAVES
- Freshman forward Jevon Porter (Columbia, Mo./Father Tolton Catholic HS) recorded the first 20-point game of his college career, finishing with a game-high 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting. He went 3-for-5 on three-pointers and also had eight rebounds.
- Sophomore forward Maxwell Lewis (Las Vegas, Nev./AZ Compass Prep) had 21 points, his second 20-point game of the season. He made all seven of his shots, three of which were three-pointers. He also had a game-high nine rebounds and a career-high-tying five assists.
- Sophomore guard Mike Mitchell Jr. (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty HS) sank four three-pointers and scored 14 points, and also had seven rebounds and five assists.
- Sophomore guard Houston Mallette (Alameda, Calif./Pacifica Christian HS) scored 12 points and had a career-high seven assists. He sank two three-pointers, extending his streak to 30 consecutive games with a three, which is tied for the third-longest run in school history.
- Sophomore forward Boubacar Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali/USC) had a career-high nine points along with four rebounds and two blocks.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
For the second straight game, the Waves never trailed. Porter scored seven straight points to help Pepperdine to an early 9-2 lead. The Waves took their first double-digit lead at 17-7 on a Mallette fast-break lay-up. The biggest lead of the first half was 13 points, which first came at 30-17 after back-to-back threes by Mallette and Mitchell. Vanguard got the lead down to six at 32-26, but the Waves eventually ended up with a 12-point lead at halftime, as Mitchell's fourth three-pointer of the half came in the closing seconds to make it 49-37.
At 73-58, Lewis had a lay-up, then a dunk, and then a three-pointer, and that was followed by a Porter three, as the 10-point run pushed Pepperdine's lead to 25 at 83-58 with 6 1/2 minutes left. Pepperdine's biggest lead of the game came shortly thereafter, as another Porter three-pointer put the Waves ahead by 26 at 86-80 with 5 1/2 minutes left. It was still a 22-point lead with 2:50 to go, though Vanguard closed out the game on a 10-2 run.
KEY STATS
- Pepperdine shot 57.6% overall for the game, while Vanguard was at 40.5%.
- The Waves had a 47-28 rebounding edge, and a 17-7 advantage on second-chance points.
- Turnovers were about the only negative stat for the Waves, as they committed a season-high 19 while forcing a season-low five.
- Vanguard was led by Garrett White's 22 points.
UP NEXT
Pepperdine concludes its three-game homestand on Saturday (Nov. 19) against UC Irvine at 5 p.m. The game will be streamed on the WCC Network.